Consider These Tips When Designing Brochures
Custom brochures can be a great way to home in on your target market and get specific people in your store. But you can also work your brochure printing tactics in another way to expand your business – by broadening your design. This is for the times you want to branch out and see who else you can consider part of your target market. Keep these tips in mind when designing your custom brochures to pull in a wider audience.
Language. Consider your demographics and how or if they’ve changed. Many companies are using multiple languages now in their signage and other marketing materials. ATMs have multiple language options for people who don’t consider English as their primary language. If banks are catering to customers who aren’t most comfortable with English, shouldn’t you consider this too?
Consider disabilities. People who are color blind won’t be able to see the bright red color you’ve chosen to accentuate all your brochure printing designs. Statistics show that 7-10 percent of men have red-green color blindness, meaning they can’t distinguish between the two colors. Also, if your target market is comprised of senior citizens, keep in mind that 5 million of them have a serious visual impairment. This means you’ll want to use big fonts that are easy to read – no curlicues for this audience.
Cut across panels. You don’t have to design your brochure within the two or three sides of the actual paper – it’s okay for your photo or text to go across the folds. Just make sure the text is big enough that a letter doesn’t get lost in the fold.
Leave white space. White space refers to any space in your design that isn’t being used by text or photos or any design element. It’s good to have white space! If you cram too much text or too many photos onto your brochure, people won’t know what to look at first. Their eyes will also get tired from seeing so much at once. Fight the need to use every square centimeter of your brochure space. This will especially appease people who can’t see very well.
Use benefit headlines. Most people will only skim your brochure, so you need to make your headlines work hard for you. Write your headlines so they tell the reader what benefit your product or service will provide.
Include benefits on each panel. If your text doesn’t expand past the panels, you have no way of knowing how the potential customer will read your brochure. Will they read the left panel first and make their way across or start with the center panel? Make sure that you include a benefit headline on each panel so that even if the customer only reads one panel, they’ll see at least one benefit of your product.